Airship.



T. B. MACMECHEN & W. V. KAMP. AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 25. I916. 1,238,231 5. Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

17 i 15 f9 1| nn a m1|n|nw on}??? HUHHI'HH' 'h iiP 16 T. R. MACMECHEN & W. V. KAMP.

A AIRSHIP.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT. 25. I916. 1,23 3 1 5, Patented Aug. 28,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS ntr'rnnnronn MAGMEGHEN AND WALTER v. KAMP, or new YORK, n. Y.

Amsnrr.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

Application filed September 25, 1916. Serial No. 121,924.

gitudinal girders and the hoop girders of aframe, such as has been disclosed in our application, Serial No. 105100, filed June 22, 1916.

The object of our said invention is to advantageously employ metal in the production of said struts, which we have devised in such manner as to render them relatively light in weight, while capable of coordinating and interconnecting with the girders, which may be of wood, to constitute therewith a homogeneous structure, possessing great strength. 1

Our purpose in employing struts of metal,

instead of struts of wood, is to increase their compression resisting quality, and the particular construction and arrangement of said struts, relatively to the other frame members, are characterized by their novel and useful application.

The said struts may consist of lengths of tubing, having connecting terminal tubular portions of relatively larger diameter, said terminal portions having rectangular apertures for the reception of thegirder bars; and said apertures being formed by cutting the displaced material in the form of wings, which are respectively left at one side integral with the aperture edges, and bent outwardly, in each instance, to form a supporting shelf for the contained girder bar.

A funnel shaped union member may connect each terminal tubular portion to the main portion of the strut, and a ring, fitted over each terminal portion, may strengthen said terminal portions where they carry eyebolts to serve as engaging devices for the girder tension or trussing wires.

Where two of the aforesaid struts are in endwiseopposed relation, a single terminal portion may-serve as a connecting element therefor, by uniting with their respective union members.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a triple strut, shown in relation to the constituent elements of an airship frame structure.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of a union member, connecting a strut section end with its terminal portion, together with the eye bolt carrying ring.

Fig. 3 is a detail view, showing themethod of cutting the wall of the terminal portion, to produce a winged or flanged, girder-bar receiving aperture therein.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section through a terminal portlon, showing the relative ar-- rangement therein of the apertures to receive a longitudinal girder bar, polygonal or hoop girder bars.

Fig. 5 is a detail of a terminal portion, having engaging means for a radial tie, and Fig. 6 is a detail of a cap member.

In the example of our composite metal strut construction illustrated herein, we have shown separate lengths or sections of tubing, as 1, 2 and 3, arranged'in endwise, opposed relation, the tube 1 intersecting the longitudinal and the spiral girders, the tube 3 intersecting the hoop girders, and the tube 2 lying intermediate tubes 1 and 3.

The tube lengths aforesaid are connected together, to constitute a continuous strut, by funnel shaped unionmembers, 4, with interfitting, enlarged tubular portions 5, over which reinforce rings 6 are fitted, to assist in carrying eye-bolts which form engaging means for the girdertrussing.

The interfitting relation recited may be and opposed,

effected by introducing a contracted portion 8 of a union member 4 snugly within a tube end, which thushas a thrust bearing against the inclined wall of said union member, at its outer surface; and the tubular portion 5 may fit snugly within the expanded end of i tances apart, throughout the length of the airship frame, and radially thereof, at points where the hoop girders intersect the longitudinal girders.

The reinforce rings 6 fit over the tubular portions 5, in endwise abutment with the.

ends of the enlarged portions of the union members 1, whereby the pull of the truss wires or cables 9 upon said rings is in the direction of said union members, the eye bolts, with which said truss wires or cables are engaged, being secured through adjacent thicknesses of a ring and the wall of a union member,

The tubular portions 5 are provided with rectangular openings, to receive the girder bars, said openings being formed by cutting through the walls of said tubular portions, as along the lines 10 (Fig. 3), and spreading the separated parts out at right angles to said tubular portions, in the form of wings or flanges 11, which serve as enlarged bearing surfaces for the girder bars. It is obvious that without the provision of these flanges, and if the openings were produced by complete removal of the wall material of the tubular portions, over the rectangular sections thereof involved, that the wall edges which would thus be offered as a socket for the girder bars, would indent the latter under the strains and pressures set up, and thus afford inefficient seatings.

It will be noted that the tubular portions 5, where employed between the tube lengths 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, form connecting members, respectively, between the opposed ends of the unified strut, said tubular portions 5 comprising the terminals thereof.

The arrangement of the respective flanged openings in the tubular portions 5, indicated in the drawings, is arbitrarily devised with relation to the girder system indicated. Thus, the tubular portions at the ends of the tube length 1 have, respectively, openings to receive the bars 12, 13, and the tubular portion 5, forming the upper terminal of the unified strut, has the openings to receive a bar 14, said bars 12, 13 and 14., comprising a triple bar longitudinal girder; diagonal trussing therefor extending, respec tively, from the eye-bolts 15, 16, and from the eye-bolts 17, 18 It will be understood that the trussing referred to, though not shown in Fig. 1, extends longitudinally of the airship, to a succeeding strut, (not shown).

Openings are also provided in the tubular portion 5 at the ends of the tube length 1 ;bolts are, ,arranged upon the strut in the same vertical plane as the openings carrying the, girder bars served, as to the trussing, by said eye-bolts.

Acap 27,. slotted in its annular wall, .to receive the girderbars, may fit over the upper terminal tubular portion 5, as a closure therefor.

The lower terminal tubular portion 5, may have its free end contracted, as'at 28, said end being perforated to engage with a terminal portion of a radial strand or tie 29, forming part of the radial panel system of the airship.

lVe claim:

1. Acomposite strut for use in the girder frame-work of airships, the same comprising lengths of tubing, in endwise opposed relation, and relatively larger tubular portions respectively forming the strut terminals and located between adjacent tubing lengths, said larger tubular portions having flanged openings to receive the girder bars.

2. A composite strut for use in the girder frame-work of airships, the same comprising lengthsof tubing, in endwise opposed relation, relatively larger tubular portions respectively forming the strut terminals and located between adjacent tubing lengths, said larger tubular portionshaving flanged openings to receive the girder bars, and annular union members to connect said tubing lengths and larger tubular portions.

3,. In a, strut for usein the girder frame work of airships, the combination of a tube, an annular, funnel shaped member whose contracted end engages said tube, and a larger tube which engages the expanded end of said funnel. shaped member, said larger tube having openings in its wall to receive a girder bar.

4. In a strut for use in the girder framework of airships, the combination of a tube, an annular, funnel shaped member whose contracted end engages said tube, and a larger tube which engages the expanded end of said funnel shaped member, said larger tube having flanged openings in its wall to receive a girder bar.

5. In a strut for use in the girder framework of airships, the combination of a tube, an annular, funnel shaped member whose contracted end-engages said tube, a larger tube which engages the expanded end of the city, county, and State of New York said funnel shaped member, said larger this 11th day of September A. D. 1916.

tube having openings in its Wall to receive THOS. RUTHERFORD MAGMEOHEN. a girder bar, a ring fitted over said larger WALTER V. KAMP. 5 tube, and trussing eye-bolts secured through Witnesses:

said ring and the Wall of said larger tube. F. W. BARKER, Signed at the borough of Manhattan, in L. MAoKoWrrz.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington I). 0. 

